ONE: DISAPPEARANCE AND SEARCH

A little girl dressed in a tan overcoat and a blue baseball cap—blue eyes, caffeine hair—with perspiration dripping from her chin, ran to the side of a building and took a short rest before moving again. She tried her hardest to ignore the pain exploding inside of her. The glasses were beginning to slide off her nose. In its right lense was a blue map.

'Only one more mile…' she thought.

It has never occurred to her that it will come to this. She has never truly felt secure, but she didn't expect the Organization to find out so quickly. How many people could recognize that she, Haibara Ai, was truly Miyano Shiho, and how many people could recognize that the cute little boy, Edogawa Conan, was truly Kudo Shinichi?

But it was true—the Organization found out at last. Ai knew that they would have found out sooner or later by the carelessness of that smarty-pants detective over there. She wondered how? What leaked? But it didn't matter.

All that mattered was that they got Kudo.

Everything happened so quickly…

This morning, she'd walked to school with him and after recess, he had already disappeared. Ai expected him to have gone to the library or somewhere else, but when class started, he wasn't at his desk. This was when Ai got worried. Kudo never liked class, but he was punctual enough to not be twenty minutes late.

Ai quickly ran out of the room and raced down the hall, realizing that something was wrong.

'Where did I see Kudo last?'

Ai ran to the playground, to the bench where Kudo sat during recess reading a book. She was stopped in her tracks when she saw that familiar pair of glasses hidden in the grass beside the bench. And then, she realized—it was definitely the Organization. Kudo would never take off his glasses unless—.

Ai instantly dropped the thought, picked up the glasses and ran. She still didn't know how much the Organization figured out. They knew at least about Kudo. What about herself? Her next destination: Dr. Agasa's. She needed to make sure that the Organization did not start their hunting of Kudo's connections.

When Ai approached Dr. Agasa's home, she knew that the Organization didn't do anything to Agasa. She knew the feeling of a killed place, a place polluted by the Organization. That death feeling…it wasn't present. And sure enough, Agasa was inside the living room, eating ramen and watching TV.

"Ai! What are you here for? Aren't you suppose to be at school?"

"Professor! Kudo disappeared!" and Ai explained everything in the breath she had left. The professor was perplexed. What did the Organization truly know? Doing too much would signify that there Conan wasn't just a regular kid but doing too little if the Organization knew about everything would be stupid. Only way: try to find Kudo without reporting anything.

So therefore, Conan was "on vacation" for some period of time with his family. Dr. Agasa phoned the school and called for Conan's leave. And now, it's time to find Kudo.

Kudo must have left some message. He's too must smart not to. Ai took the glasses out of her pocket.

"Professor, isn't there something like a tracking device to this? Where's the switch?"

Agasa showed it to her, and there it was: a blinking red light.

"Aha! Shinichi! We could definitely find him."

"You mean I could definitely find him. You stay out of this." Ai said in an icey tone. The professor looked at her and saw her eyes already frozen. Ai continued, "Professor, there's no point in dragging you into this. If I fail, I need someone to tell Ran—Kudo needs someone to tell Ran. If Ran gets hurt, that's more painful than killing him. If this fails, and Ran doesn't know the truth, she will think that he's abandoned her. Kudo won't allow that. No matter what happens, we need someone to at least try to keep Ran safe. I know trying to run from the Organization is futile, but maybe they still haven't figured it all out. If they didn't, then perhaps there'll still be a chance for you, Ran and the rest even if I fail to save Kudo."

"Ai— "

"Trust me, professor," her voice was in a monotone. "Keep yourself safe, for Ran's sake, for Kudo's sake. Even though I may seem very isolated from Kudo, and especially Ran, perhaps I may understand them more than you, Kudo, or Ran may ever imagine."

The professor stared at Ai, and he didn't know her. He had seen her cold before, but never frozen. Her voice had never been so monotone, her eyes more serious, her heart more determined. He sighed, and surrendered the battle.

"Okay, Ai. It's all yours. I'll keep out of this."

"Move into a hotel or somewhere. You cannot stay here."

"Should I tell Ran about Shinichi's truth?"

"No. Let her be. Don't even contact her. If the Organization didn't even go for you, they won't go for her. Not yet. And it isn't safe to contact each other. A big thing screaming out for the Organization's attention. Just keep an eye on her in the dark. Keep her safe. I'll run after Kudo. I won't contact you either, and I won't know where you will stay. Try to separate from contact from any of Kudo's close friends, or the Organization will find out. After one week, if I'm still not back with Kudo, it's a failure. Take Ran and hide. Don't try to go to another country: the Organization could easily find the ticket and record. Just hide. And now, I have to go find Kudo."

"Good luck, Ai."

"You too, professor." Ai walked to the door, turned around and took a last look at the professor. Will she ever see that face again? The face of a smiling father who took her in and the first to show her kindness for this year? Ai put on the glasses, walked out the door and didn't look back…

"Kudo. At least I can be sure that you won't kill me for not protecting Ran." thought Ai, and she didn't know whether it was sarcastic or not.

The sun was already setting. The sky was spotted with clouds of pink and orange. "Dear God, if I die, let me be a cloud. I want to know how it feels like to be pure and light." And she ran on. It was going to be a long night.